Good evening everyone and welcome to my first News and Rumors column for this site. I will be coming back every Tuesday and Sunday with the best of the best for all of you. We have a lot going on at this site and encourage you to check out all of it.
With that said, let us get into the midst of the news and rumors out there this Tuesday. First of all, the RAW rating is in and is currently being reported on 1W as a 3.4 cable rating. Two weeks ago, the show did a horrific 3.15 but the next week they jumped to a 3.69. From where I sit, this week’s rating is more bad ratings news for the RAW brand. I’ll have the complete rating and more on it when I return Sunday and have a complete ratings report.
The AP reported yesterday that Steve Austin, in his court appearance pleaded no contest to the assault charges being pressed against him by the state of Texas from back in June when he allegedly beat up Debra Williams. As a result Austin was fined $1,000, one year of probation, 80 hours of community service, and must undergo domestic violence counceling. The Reuters report said that Austin is also banned from drinking alcholic beverages for an entire year. With this news coming out yesterday, speculations have been running wild that with this court case behind him, a return is much more likely. Click here to see Austin in court.
1Wrestling.com is now reporting that Undertaker’s wife and Kurt Angle’s wife have both given birth to two baby girls. Congratulations are in order, I suppose.
Seems like there is some interesting backstage news on SmackDown. According to some reports, WWE has given Tazz the night off for whatever reason and Ernest Miller (The Cat; WCW) will be taking his spot for the evening. Miller has recently been given a tryout in WWE and the entire Human Relations department has been trying to make a decision as to except him or not.
Just a couple weeks after the announcement of Joanie Laurer and Sean Waltman becoming engaged, NWATNA has realeased a press release saying that due to Waltman’s dereliction of duty (in tems of being present at shows) they will not be using him anymore on their shows.
“Sean Waltman informed TNA Entertainment management today that he will not appear on the November 27 episode of NWA-TNA: Total Nonstop Action. Waltman had also failed to appear on the November 13 episode and called about an hour prior to showtime to say he had overslept and missed his flight. His flight for that show was scheduled to depart at 11pm on November 12. Because of the previous problem with Waltman failing to appear on an NWA-TNA telecast, TNA Entertainment officials had lengthy conversations with Waltman prior to announcing on last week’s telecast that he would be on the November 27 broadcast. Waltman repeatedly apologized for his unprofessional behavior the previous week and gave assurances that he would be in attendance for the November 27 show.” For the November 27 show, Waltman was scheduled for a match with Curt Hennig against NWA Tag Champs Lee and Slash.
“…(Waltman) will be replaced in the match by BG James,” read the press release emailed to several wrestling websites. It continued, “There are no current plans to use Sean Waltman on future NWA-TNA: Total Nonstop Action broadcasts.” Officially, The Balrog’s Lair still sends out congratulations to the new happy couple of Laurer and Waltman.
Alright, I am going to go now but first let me ask you all to read my column now availible on the newsboard here and also I will be returning on Sunday with a lot more. I will see you then but before I leave allow me to leave you with a wise quote.
“Life sucks, and then you DIE!” – Vince McMahon. Thank you for the kind words and I’ll see all of you on Sunday.
